Vengeance can be Deadly
by CloudStrife1190
Summary: Set three years after ToB, an Imoen+protagnist story. Imoen lives in Candlekeep once again, and her Bhaal taint is gone. So what could Irenicus possibly want with her? Chapter 3 is up. R
1. The Dream

A/N:I just want to make one thing clear before you become disgusted at a protagonist+Imoen thing and say something like, "Ew they're brother and sister." Well actually in this story they're not. For starters, the protagonist in this story is an elf, so they don't have the same mother. Second, Bhaal's taint was removed in Throneof Bhaal anyway so basically they have no relation at all. And lastly, this story contains major spoilers for Bg2 SoA, and Tob. Anyway, this story takes place about three years after ToB, and Imoen now lives back in Candlekeep, so enjoy. AND PLEASE REVIEW!  
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Imoen was lost. She knew where she was, true enough, but she didn't know, when she was, or why she was there, standing in the middle of the laboratory of Spellhold once again. Due to her past encounters in this place, she was also quite terrified. The need to leave over to her and she began to walk cautiously towards the door, her footfalls echoing on the hard floor.   
She reached for the handle, but suddenly it was gone, along with the door. She suddenly found herself back in the experiment tube, where she had been tortured by the scariest man she had ever know-Jon Irenicus.   
"But that was years ago." She muttered to herself, and indeed it was. Three years had passed since her half-brother had saved her from this very building and killed the monster, Irenicus.   
"Indeed it has been a while hasn't it Imoen?" said a haunting voice that seemed to come from the very walls of the place, echoing through the corridors to her. The voice was Jon Irenicus's, who suddenly materialized in front of the experiment tube, looking as powerful and bloodthirsty as ever.  
"You-you're dead!" Imoen cried in disbelief and horror.  
"Am I really?" Irenicus asked. "I seem very much alive don't I?"  
"Riven killed you! He killed you in the Nine Hells!" Imoen spat.  
"Yes, but now I'm back. Isn't that ironic? Luckily I had enough power left in my soul to revive my body. But enough talk, now we will resume the experiments." Irenicus said, and began to move toward her.  
"No...Our taint of Bhaal is gone! You won't get anything from us." Imoen said, with a satisfied expression on her face.  
"Hm...well I suppose that does make a difference...But no matter, I must still torture you for the trouble you have caused me." Irenicus said, and continued to move toward her tube.  
"No...please...Help me! Anybody!" Imoen cried.  
"Hahahahahaha. You foolish girl, no one can hear you." Irenicus's said maliciously. "Now it is time for your punishment."  
He began to cast a spell while Imoen began pounding on the glass, looking for any possible way out. She suddenly remembered Riven's dagger, sheathed on her belt. She reached for it, but it wasn't there. Suddenly her strength left her. She crumbled to the floor while Irenicus began to laugh.  
"Now that your strenght is gone little one, I shall enjoy watching you scream." Irenicus said, and then began casting spell after painful spell. Imoen's screams soon filled the room, while Irenicus laughed excitedly.  
Blood began to trickle from her mouth as she managed to scream for help again.  
Suddenly, Jon stopped casting. Imoen looked up, hardly daring to believe her luck, when she saw what had stopped Irenicus. He was staring at his forearm, where blood was oozing from an arrow that was protruding from the muscle.  
"What is this?" He cried out in pain, and surprise.  
"That, you bastard, is an arrow." Came the voice of a figure, hooded by an Elven cloak, standing on the top row of experiment tubes. Imoen felt a thrill of hope at the sight of, what apparently was Riven, her former half brother.  
He then leapt down from the shelf, and after fitting his bow over his chest, threw back his hood to reveal an Elf with dark blue eyes, and electric blue hair, that fell to his shoulders.  
"Riven!" Imoen screamed, as relief flooded her system. She also felt a power course through her, as if Riven was giving her strength just by being there.  
"Well isn't this priceless? The fool once again comes to the rescue. Tell me Ranger, what do you plan on doing to me? You are powerless compared to me." Irenicus said. He seemed to have magically healed his wound, for it had stopped bleeding.  
"Would you seriously like to feel my wrath once again Jon?" Riven asked.  
"Yes, in fact. I am eager to see what has become of the Bhaalspawn since his taint was removed." Irenicus answered.  
"You have made your choice, but I am willing to give you one last chance. Free Imoen and you won't be hurt as bad. Mind you I will still have to kill you for torturing Imoen." Riven said, and let his hand slide instinctively to the hilt of his long sword, Daystar.  
"And my choice remains. Now I will kill you both." Irenicus said, and summoned a huge Phantom Blade. "It's been awhile since I fought hand-to-hand. Let's see how well I perform against yourself." Irenicus said, and leaped forward into a battle stance.  
"Have it your way." Riven replied, and threw back the sides of his cloak to reveal a coat of Elven chain mail. He then drew Daystar, which glowed a rich orange. The light also made Imoen feel stronger. Riven then feinted a jump attack, but instead of chopping down, he brought his blade down and up, attempting to rip through Jon's midsection. Instead of soft flesh though, his blade met hard steel as Jon blocked his attack. He then drove Riven backwards, to the floor.   
"Pressing his blade against Riven's throat, Irenicus said, "Now Riven, is when you die." But before Jon could slice, Riven batted his blade away, and kicked him in the stomach, giving him enough time to leap to his feet, and regain his balance.  
Suddenly Riven was blown backwards into the wall by a magic missile spell, and cried out in pain and surprise. He barely had time to catch his breath, when a lighting bolt came flying his way. Imoen was watching all this from the tube, feeling extremely helpless, and weak. Suddenly, she saw Riven get blown off his feet by a fireball spell.  
Imoen realized that Riven had had enough, when he yelled, "Imoen, cover your eyes!" She realized what he was doing right before he did it. Snapping her eyes shut and covering her head, she dropped to the floor, just as a massive sunfire was released from Daystar. Imoen, being out of the spell's range, was unharmed, and she looked up to see that Jon had been obliterated by the fiery blast.   
Riven shakily got to his feet and asked anxiously, while running to the tube, "Are you ok? He didn't hurt you did he?"   
"No, I'm ok n-now that you're here." Imoen answered.  
"Stand back." Riven said, and shattered the experiment tube with a whack of his sword.  
Imoen leaped down from the tube gratefully and said, "Thanks. He would have killed me if you weren't here."   
"Don't mention it." He said.  
"Modest as ever I see." Imoen said, cheerfully.  
"Cheerful as ever." Riven noted making Imoen smile.  
Imoen was about to suggest that they leave, but when she turned around to do so, Riven had gone. In fact, the whole dungeon had gone. Imoen was left standing in a black void.  
"Until we meet again little one." Irenicus's voice came, and then she was falling through the void, her screams echoing back to her...  
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Imoen woke with a startled cry. She quickly darted her gaze around the dark room to find that she was back in her room. She let out a sigh of relief and looked out the window to find that it was thundering and raining like mad.  
She then realized that her window was open and the rain was streaming in, and soaking the hard wood floor.  
"Damn it." She muttered to herself, and got out of her bed to shut it. Suddenly, there came a knock at the door. Not wanting to leave anybody standing out in the pouring rain at this hour of the night, Imoen quickly ran over to her wardrobe, grabbed the first robe she saw, slipped it on, and ran for the stairs. In her haste to get downstairs, she forgot about the puddle on the floor, and slipped, landing hard on her butt.  
"Ow! Coming!" She yelled, and ran downstairs, past the kitchen and pulled open the front door to see the very savior from her dream standing in her doorway. 


	2. The kidnapping of Imoen

"Riven!" Imoen cried, and jumped into the Elf's arms, nearly knocking him to the ground.  
"Hey take it easy! I missed you too ok? Now can we go inside, I'm soaked?" Riven said, and let Imoen lead him inside.  
Once inside, Riven barely had time to take off his dark green, Elven made cloak, and shake out his long blue hair, before Imoen pulled him into another tight embrace. They broke apart and Imoen scolded playfully, "You sure have taken your time in coming to see me."  
"Things have been busy back in the Umar hills." Riven replied. He was the Ranger and protector for the town of Imnesvale in the Umar Hills of Amn, to the south. He went on, "I had to bust up a mercenary group that was smuggling weapons into the Umar cave. They were planning to take the town for ransom. Got myself a nice trophy from it too." He said pulling up his sleeve and showing her a new scar that ran the length of his forearm.  
Imoen hardly noticed, as she was too busy losing herself in his dark blue eyes.  
"Uh Imoen? You still with me?" Riven asked.  
"Wha-Oh yeah sorry. Just tired I guess." Imoen replied, mentally kicking herself and wondering exactly why she had been getting lost in his eyes.  
"Sorry I woke you up at this time of night." He said apologetically. Unbeknownst to Imoen, Riven was also a little busy staring at Imoen. Most people that jumped out of bed in the middle of the night didn't exactly look their best so to speak, but Imoen looked her same, pretty self as usual.  
"It's nothing. I was already awake anyhow." She responded, barely suppressing a shudder at the thought of her dream.  
"What in the name of Torm are you doing up at this time of the morning?" Riven asked, noticing that the sky was getting slightly pink outside.  
"Well I had a pretty freaky dream." Imoen replied feeling slightly embarrassed, and stupid at telling her best friend that she had a bad dream.  
"What happened?" He asked.  
"Well...ok this is going to sound dumb but it involved Irenicus." Imoen said.  
"Irenicus?" Riven asked sharply. "What would Irenicus have to do with you?  
"He said he wanted revenge for what we did, and he starting torturing me, and then you came in and killed him, but everything disappeared except me and He said we'd keep in touch and then I woke up and then...." Imoen realized she was babbling so she shut up.  
"Hmm. Strange. He didn't say how he was back?" Riven asked concernedly.  
"He said he used his remaining powers to reunite his body with his soul after you killed him or something like that, but..." Imoen trailed off and noticed that it was indeed getting light out so she said, "Hold on, let me go get dressed and I'll make us something to eat k?" before heading up the stairs to her room.  
A short time later Imoen came back downstairs wearing her black tunic with a yellow trim and some light boots and headed into the kitchen. She prepared a breakfast of eggs and bacon, and while they were eating, Riven inquired, "So what about you? What made you come back here?"  
"Well for one this is the only place I've ever really thought of as home, and second, where else would I go?" Imoen replied.  
"You could have come live with me." Riven said with a smile, which Imoen returned.   
"Nah I don't think the life of a Ranger is for me. Besides I sometimes help out here with the guards, and I can keep up on my magic studies." Imoen said.  
Riven, who had finished eating, had taken out his dagger and began to clean it. The dagger was not as simple as it looked though, for the people of Imnesvale, had enchanted the dagger and gave to Riven as a thank you gift for saving their town from the Shadow Beasts.  
Suddenly, Riven's Elf ears detected the footfalls of somebody upstairs. Too faint for a human to hear, Imoen asked, "What's wrong?"  
"Shh. There's somebody, no two people upstairs." Riven said quietly, and drew Daystar. "Get behind me." He instructed, and Imoen obeyed.  
"As he moved to the stairs, Imoen gave a sharp cry of surprise. He shot a glance back at her to find her in a headlock of a black-cloaked thief, with the blade of his short sword pressed against her neck.  
"Hold fool!" the hooded man cried out threateningly. "I'll kill he-ooof!" Imoen, who had driven her elbow into his midsection, cut him off. She finished him off with a strong punch to the jaw.  
Suddenly, the two assassins from upstairs appeared in the living room. One was a wizard. Wasting no time, Riven dove at them, with his blade in front of him, but was stopped by the wizard's sleep spell. He went down but did not fall unconscious right away. The last thing he saw before passing out was, the three intruders warping away, taking Imoen with them.  
  
A/N: Well there's another chapter. Gave you a cliffy there. What will happen next hmm? Wait and find out. AND PLEASE REVIEW! 


	3. Irenicus is back....

The first thing Riven felt when he slipped back into the world of consciousness was a dull stinging on the back of his head, where he had hit the hard wood floor. He tried vainly to sit up but the pain pushed him back down. He relaxed against the cool wood, letting it calm him. He began to meditate, thus gathering his thoughts and allowing time for the pain to pass. He began to remember the events that had transpired before he had been put under the sleep spell. He recounted how he had failed to save Imoen from her kidnappers, and anger once again filled him. Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, he slowly opened his eyes, letting them adjust to the light. When he felt as though he could stand, he slowly pushed up from the ground, and put his feet underneath him. Finally he felt something close to normal, and began to scan the room. The attackers had made a clean job of the kidnapping, leaving not a trace of their presence. Except for one. Riven suddenly grabbed for Daystar, his long sword, but it wasn't there. Scanning the floor, he found his sword near the spot where the kidnappers had disappeared. Daystar though, was no longer Daystar. Shattered remains, of the blade where scattered around the floor, and he knelt down near them.  
"My friend..." he breathed in disbelief. This sword had been one of his most trusted allies in battle. Anger filled him like none he had felt that morning. Not only did the bandits take Imoen, the wizard in the group proceeded to destroy Riven's blade, truly insulting the warrior. Crushing his anger again, he calmly stood up and walked to the door. The guards of Candlekeep must be informed of this breach of security. As he was pulling on his cloak, he glanced at the magical time-telling device that Imoen had erected on her wall. According to the clock, he had been out for about forty-five minutes. Giving one last look to his fallen blade, filled him with a vengeful resolve, and he left Imoen's house. Heading across the lawn, he walked toward the barracks of the soldiers of Candlekeep. When he opened the door to the place, the soldiers turned a wary eye to him. Upon realization of who this was, their faces suddenly lit up with delight.  
"Greetings friends." Riven said, to the small crowd of soldiers. "Please dispense with the pleasantries, as we will have time for that later. For now I have a grave tale to tell. This morning, Imoen, my trusted friend was kidnapped from her home." Looks of shocked disbelief from the soldiers met Riven's ever-calm gaze. These soldiers have never experienced a kidnapping without them knowing of it first.  
"When? How?" a young soldier near Riven asked.  
"In the first hours of dawn, a wizard, and his group of bounty hunters descended upon her home. I tried to stop them, but alas, I could not. The wizard teleported them away to a place unknown to me." Rivn answered gravely.   
"We must launch an investigation at once!" said a very important looking officer, getting several cheers of agreement from the throng of soldiers gathered in the barracks.  
"Nay. There is nothing to investigate. Allow me to handle that part sir. It's personal now. They stole my childhood friend and destroyed my blade. I will do everything I can to stop them. Besides I already have a clue as to who it is." Riven replied.  
"Who could it be?" another officer asked.  
"I...believe it could be...the fallen mage Jon Irenicus." Riven answered hesitantly. He did not think that the soldiers would believe this.  
"Irenicus? Didn't you dispatch him?" said the young warrior that had spoken up first.  
"Yes I did. But I'm afraid he may be trying to return-Using Imoen to do it." Riven responded. "Besides" he continued, "I need you men to stay here strengthen your defenses so that this may never happen again. Inform the wizards of what has happened and tell them if they need me I will be at my cabin in the Umar hills, preparing for an attack on Irenicus." He threw a short salute and strode out of the barracks. Pulling out a small crystal from a pouch on his belt he uttered the command word, "Sha'aklin" that would instantly transport him to his cabin. A blue light suddenly engulfed him, and he was soon standing in front of his Ranger cabin. He walked onto his familiar porch and entered. Nothing looked out of the ordinary, so he relaxed his guard, and walked inside. He noticed something on the table though, and went to retrieve it. It turned out to be a note, stuck to the table with a poisoned dagger, the dangerous venom, running the ink together in the spot that it touched. Picking it up, he read,  
  
Fool,  
If you are reading this, then you will soon find out where I have taken your precious Imoen. I won't waste time telling you who this is because I am sure you have the common sense to realize. You'll be disappointed to find that, by the time you read this, I have already completed the ritual to give myself life once again. I must admit, it took some time, and a lot of blood, particularly Imoen's to finish. But now that is past, and I am sure you wish to come and rescue her correct. Very well, I am holding her, in my new dungeon, underneath the Slums of Athkatla. Come meet your destiny, and my revenge, if you wish.  
  
Riven laid the letter back on his table and thought about his situation for a moment. He now knew where Imoen, and Irenicus where. But he also knew that danger awaited him. He then realized that he could not do this alone. He needed the companionship of his friends once again. But for now he was too tired to do much of anything. He had traveled for weeks to reach Candlekeep, and had rarely slept. As such, he was exhausted. He decided that he would rest until morning, and then call upon his friends for help. Taking off his boots and cloak, and placing his equipment in his weapons cabinet, he replaced his day tunic, with a simple sleep tunic. But before he got into bed, he found his replacement for Daystar. Actually replacements would be more accurate. On the to shelf of his weapons rack, were his prized scimitars, Luna and Beam, which glowed with moonlight. They were given to him by the king of a moon elf tribe that Riven had saved from an onslaught of Vampire attacks. They were both long, and thin, delicately curved, and light, allowing Riven to move with great speed when fighting. Smiling, he remembered how well he fought with those blades. He decided that these would be the blades that would destroy Irencus once and for all, as he slipped into a dreamless sleep.  
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A/N: Well here's another chapter for you reader people out there. Please review because once gain, I NEED REVIEWS. Remember, more reviews=more chapters. Thanks to those who did review. Oh well until next chapter, bu-bye. 


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